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There was another announcement . . .
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport announced this on the Aaron Rodgers trade front:
“At the last minute it can get done, it’ll probably get done, so I would imagine that’s next week,” Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee Show.
But this was after ESPN’s Adam Schefter announced a deal is unlikely to be completed before the draft.
Where are they getting their information?
It’s hard to tell, but one place I can tell you they aren’t getting it is from Rodgers or his agent.
Rodgers is represented by David Dunn of Athletes First. He is usually helpful to the powerful insiders, but he knows darn well, that Rodgers doesn’t want him talking to them.
Rodgers recently told Schefter while appearing on the McAfee Show to “Lose his number.”
And he recently called something Rapoport reported about him “fake news.”
Rodgers isn’t a fan of the insiders, and he’s made that clear over and over, so it’s pretty obvious they aren’t getting updates from him or his agent about how the trade talks are going.
And since Rodgers isn’t a fan of the insiders, it’s probably smart for the Jets to avoid dealing with them about this story, and they probably are.
So maybe some stuff is coming from the Packers, but team president Mark Murphy, who makes all key decisions there, said he’s “sworn to secrecy.”
It’s possible the trade could come after June 1, so the Packers can spread the Rodgers cap hit over two years. If they wait until June, the cap hit is $15.8 million in 2023 and $24.5 million in 2024.
So this really comes down to how much do the Packers value having an extra second-round pick this year.
Because even if they get a first-round pick in this deal, it’s not going to be the Jets’ 2023 pick at 13 – that selection is off the table. It would be a 2024 first-round pick, but the Jets don’t want to do that right now. But one thing is for sure, it’s not going to be the 13th pick under any circumstances.
So maybe the Packers don’t care that much about an extra second-round pick in 2023, and are willing to wait until June to spread out the cap hit.
But honestly, while Schefter is the best NFL insider in the business, not sure, he, or anybody in the media, truly knows when this is going to get done.
Even Trey Wingo, who has been doing the best reporting on the Rodgers-to-the-Jets front, has been quiet over the last month.
I’m not going to lie, over my quarter century covering the Jets, this is one of the weirdest stories I’ve ever covered.
Think about it – how often do you ever have a situation in sports where you know where a player is going to be traded, but it takes this long for the trade to be consummated?
Lamar Jackson wants to be traded, but nobody knows where that might be, or whether it’s even going to happen.
We know Rodgers is going to be traded, and we know where, but it’s taking forever to happen. This is really unusual.
But hat-tip to the Jets for putting themselves in his position. They are likely going to get a future Hall of Fame QB.
This doesn’t happen very often.
The NFL isn’t the NBA, where elite players change teams all the time. The fact that Kevin Durant is now on his fourth team boggles the mind. Why would you ever let a talent like that out of one building, let alone three buildings? But the players run the NBA. That is not the case with the NFL, at least not yet.
So I give the Jets a tremendous amount of credit for being on the cusp of doing this.
But when it’s going to happen, that is anybody’s guess, even the top insiders.
April 19, 2023
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